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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24580609">knights</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>nowhere to go but underneath [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Never Have I Ever (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Flirting, Kissing, possible evolution for seasons 2 +</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:13:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>810</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24580609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Flirting. She’s pretty certain that’s what it is.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Paxton Hall-Yoshida/Devi Vishwakumar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>nowhere to go but underneath [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777582</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>knights</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Some people celebrate handing in their penultimate assignment by drinking a beer and watching some awesome programming. I, on the other hand, celebrate by drinking the beer and writing flirting as it makes me loads happy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Devi grins wide when she finds Paxton lounging alone poolside over one of the reclining chairs, warmth traveling across her system, the spark of it noticeable even when summer has made its arrival early and so it’s pretty balmy outside. Paxton pulls himself up so that he’s sitting straight when he hears her approaching, long, strong legs finding the floor so that he’s straddling the chair underneath. He turns to look over his shoulder, returning her smile the moment his gaze fixes on her.</p><p>“You done destroying Trent at Nitro-Fueled?”</p><p>Devi chuckles and sits on one of the chairs beside his, too aware of his right knee touching her left one. “He schools me at Mortal Kombat so it’s only fair that I return the favor with Nitro-Fueled whenever the opportunity presents itself. I still showed mercy and lowered the drinking penalty for rounds lost to half-a-glass of his mystery punch.”</p><p>“You, Devi Vishwakumar, are a very, <i>very</i> kind soul,” he told her, tone level but stare lit up.</p><p>“I am that, especially given the fact that the penalty remained at half-a-glass when I left Trent with Eve.”</p><p>Paxton chuckled, bowing his head slightly. “Oh, I’m so going to be on hair-holding duties at some point tonight.”</p><p>Devi cocked her head a fraction, her eyes gentle on him. “Why are you all alone out here when this is the last party before prom and the actual last decadent goodbye at Noah’s?”</p><p>He chuckles, shrugging his broad shoulders once before he’s training his attention towards the pool. “Because it’s … - the last party before prom and the actual last decadent goodbye at Noah’s.”</p><p>“Ah,” Devi says, immediately understanding what Paxton means. It’s that way with her, too: introspective moods often precede the moment when she’s about to enter a new stage in her life.  Her mouth shapes around a soft smile after half a beat. “I could,… -d’you want me to go and leave you b-”</p><p>“Nah.” He shifts, carefully knocking her knee with his. Their eyes lock before he speaks again, play splayed across each syllable of his next statement. “I was kind of hoping you showed up, actually.”</p><p>Flirting. She’s pretty certain that’s what it is. Pretty certain that they’ve fallen into a pattern of it since Wednesday and driving lessons, finally getting parallel right, and then just cannoning into him for a hug after they’d stepped out of the Jeep to discover that, yeah, she’d done it perfectly – then Paxton turning so that he was nestling into her neck, closed lips pressing into the hypersensitive skin there, his solid arms pulling her in so impossibly close, the entire feel of the embrace changing from friendly to galaxies away from that.</p><p>Her breakup with Ben was a hurricane that ate an earthquake and spat biological warfare:  a mess of mistakes, really fucking ugly choices, unforgivable words exchanged, and feeling nothing by the end of it. So much so that, for the following three months, every good, worthy moment that had ever taken place between her and Ben became something like a too lovely photo Devi couldn’t bear to look at for fear of exploding into a million angry, confused, bitter pieces.</p><p>She hadn’t thought she’d be up to anything even remotely meaningful before the six-months-since mark. </p><p>And yet here she is:  only four months after, the last two-and-a-half heavily dotted with Paxton after he sought her out as a History tutor, which led to them resuming and deepening their previous tenuous friendship.</p><p>And she’s flirting. Because she’s being flirted at. </p><p>She gives him a look, calling playfulness into her eyes and slightly arching her eyebrow. Inwardly quelling the sudden flutter of fear because she trusts Paxton and she can’t possibly do worse her second time giving romance a chance now that she’s gained the perspective afforded by experience. “So you want us to stay out here for a while sharing silence?”</p><p>He cuts her a half-smile before moving so that he’s no longer straddling the chair, his second leg now joining his right one in framing her. The quality to  his movements liquid, expression so quiet that it dips into that intensity he sometimes displays, he leans forward, so near that Devi can sense him smiling in reaction after he hovers, weighing, and she stays. “That’s not close enough, Devi,” he rasps out, tone stranded between baiting and bare.</p><p>Light to switch: Devi melts into the heat of him, finding his mouth with eyes closed as he frames her face. She’s grinning a little into it as Paxton settles on her thigh as well, blunt fingertips pressing in. Lust and warm affection compel her to reach, to touch, fingers threading into his hair, her body tensing and then relaxing when he guides their kiss from a soft, gentle introduction to a slow-building, consuming blaze.</p><p>Damn, but kissing is <i>not</i> overrated.</p>
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